The Heroes' Shadow
by zfjacob
Summary: What happens when a lazy hikikomori with the ability to [Mine] and [Craft], along with 3 other people, gets transported in a world somewhat similar to the game but very different all the same? "Nothing really..." or so what Jacob, our local hikikomori, says anyway Note: "hikikomoris" are kinda hermits in a way.


A very dull dream.

That's the first thing that I had thought when I woke up floating around a completely dark room that I was in while I could perfectly see my body which is strange considering I shouldn't see anything from all this darkness around. As for why I assumed this was a room in the first place... how the hell should I know? I was in my bed trying too sleep of a major hangover last night. There were 4 us and we were just sitting in front of our computers playing games and dares and at one point we got to a drinking dare. It was actually a funny start. We kept dying a lot in this game-

Wait a minute. This is not the time to reminisce upon that. The situation I'm in now is getting a bit... boring. You would think a normal person would start panicking around and start looking left and right, front and behind, thinking of "Where the hell am I?!". Not me though.

Not much would surprise me these days, considering how the life of a teenage freak living among a couple of freaks can give you lots of experience. Oh right, speaking of freaks, I do still have my ability.

I calmed myself down and steadied my heartbeat, because this is all a requirement for my ability to work. Good thing too, since trying to stay calm to use my ability can be a bit challenging depending on what situation you are in. So with that, I pictured in my mind the face of a person, an auburn middle-aged woman wearing a business suit, and I snapped my finger.

The high pitch sound reverberated throughout the very dark room. The echo lasted a long time before stopping, which gave me a clue that the place I'm in is actually large and has a huge space which in turn made me in awe for a little. But that's not the point right now. Although finding a little bit about the area I'm in sounds... useful? it's still not the thing that made stood (float) there in shock. What shocked me was that my ability didn't work.

Oh yeah, forgot about the explaining part of my ability. It doesn't specifically have a name but I just simply call it [Snap]. Yeah, yeah, make fun of my creativity. Not my department so not my fault. Basically I picture the person who has that specific ability and then snap my fingers and I could use the ability of that person for a minute, currently. I say currently because when I was ten my dad taught me how to nap my fingers so when I tried doing so, I always think about my dad which in turn showed my a hand that was lit ablaze by a dark flame. At that time I could only maintain that state for 30 seconds before the flame got extinguished. 5 years later I could maintain it for a minute. As to why and how I developed this crazily overpowered ability, I do not know and I do not care. It's not everyone knows anyway, I only showed them my dad's power, letting them think I inherited his ability-

Sh*t! I got side tracked again. Anyways back to the current situation. I floated there with my mouth widely agape as I realized my power didn't actually work. The woman that I pictured in my head had the power of [Lux] (as I call it, but the mostly used term is actually Photokinesis) which, if you didn't figure it out, is supposed to manipulate light.

Must be a failed attempt? It couldn't be. For the whole 5 years of my teenage life I've collected 1, 463 abilities and not once do they fail, even if it was the first time I tried them out. And yes, that number is accurate. What was wrong? Maybe this place could negate special abilities? A plausible idea. If it is though, it would be interesting to know how this place works because I don't have an ability that negates other abilities in my arsenal yet. I could make some mischief with that.

So as I floated there in a dead space whilst thinking about what I could do if I could have my eyes on the power of this room with a devilish grin, I didn't notice to what was happening behind me.

Out of nowhere there was a floating translucent gem of some sort. It looked like it was finely cut by a sharp tool, and considering that I don't have any knowledge on how gems are cut I'll just say tool. This gem's surface was smooth, clearly showing the skill of the craftsman who cut this fine gem.

Now normally gems would look like... well, normal gems, all being pretty and crystal-like. But I've never heard of any gem that could emit a faint grayish white glow and also emit a very powerful imposing aura.

Why didn't I notice this before, seeing that this weird gem stood out like a sore thumb even in this dull blank world? But as I started thinking upon this minor problem, a deep voice of some man could be heard inside my head.

 _Hmm... Perfect..._

This voice then started maniacally chuckling that sent shivers down my spine before fading away and returned to the previous dull state of the room. Who was that? And why did I felt tingly at my back?

If you were to have multiple abilities, ranging from space-time manipulation to self-regeneration, there would be less things that would induce fear in you, more or less next to this voice apparently had done so.

At that moment, where I took my attention away from the floating gem in front of me, a faint phantom-like figure could be seen. Although this kind of projection is a bit vague, I could make out a black trench coat, jet black messy hair and red tinted eyes. What's weirdest and the most shocking thing of all was that the face of the projection looked very, very similar to what I looked like, scratch the blood red eyes though. He was facing me with his squinty, listless eyes and an expression that I always had every time when I...

"Hey... Don't tell me..."

The phantom seeing my face full of realization, had his lip curl up slightly. Though this action was very insignificant, to me this was a confirmation, since I also do this whenever I 'finish the job'.

The phantom raised his hand and positioned his fingers as if he were to... [Snap].

Seeing this, I rushed towards the phantom. I know my own power than anyone else so if I were to stop him, or me, or- Fuck it! I'm calling him/me an 'it'. So if I were to stop it from snapping its fingers, it should do nothing. But unfortunately, like me, who isn't an idiot that would wait for its opponent to come up front before activating the power, snapped the fingers.

The sound of the snap had accompanied me throughout my superpowered life, but it was me who made the snapping though. Never would have thought that my own power would be used against me. Well, technically I did think of it ever since I got that nerd's- I wouldn't say power, more of a buff I guess- enhanced intelligence, but I like acting stupid, it's what got me three of my best friends anyway. And also a plus side, this buff type of ability is kinda permanent where I don't need to use [Snap] from what I had observed along with other more buff types of powers like pamnesia, adoptive muscle memory, etc.

Anyhow, with my nonchalant way of thinking(I say nonchalant, you say distracted), I somehow managed to forget the problem at hand, and when it did... oh did it hurt like hell. I clutched my head as I screamed from the top of my lungs because of the intense pain in my brain. A second later, I was knocked out and my unconscious body fell through the great black void below. Before I got knocked out though, there was one thought that had occurred to me.

 _I thought I had cut off my sense of pain?_


End file.
